a5c7b9f00b Historical reenactment of the air war in the early days of World War Two for control of the skies over Britain as the new Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force determine whether or not an invasion can take place. It is 1940, and the diabolical mind of Adolf Hitler is planning to bomb England into submission to his warped dreams of a 'Fortress Europe'. Standing between Britain's freedom & Hitler's terrifying plans is the R.A.F - dedicated pilots who took to the skies again & again in the face of overwhelming odds. The German Luftwaffe's planes outnumber the R.A.F's by more than 2 to 1 - 650 planes of the R.A.F. vs. 2,500 of the Luftwaffe! These odds. however, do not deplete the determination of the R.A.F. to stop Hitler, and as the Luftwaffe launches wave after wave of Heinkel 111 bombers against British cities, the R.A.F. responds, under the leadership of Air Vice Marshal Park and Squadron Leaders Canfield and Harvey who lead the newest pilots of the R.A.F. into confrontation after confrontation with the Luftwaffe's experienced veterans, with the aim of driving Hitler's forces away from Dover's white cliffs for good... This movie has tons of very beautiful old authentic British and German WWII fighters and bombers, and some amazing aerial combat scenes, but on the whole it just seems incomplete, like something was left on the cutting room floor. the ending is definitely anti-climatic, and the portrayal of Goering as a complete childish moron is embarrassing. It's not even made clear that Michael Caine has died until someone mentions seeing his character, Squadron Leader Canfield, go down in an exploding plane. That said, the cast does well with an uneven script- note the silly and dead-end love story between Susannah York and Christopher Plummer- and minimal screentime even for a war movie. Laurence Olivier resembles Hugh Dowding, as does Trevor Howard as Keith Park. The air raids are nicely done, as is the recreation of Hitler's speech to a crowd of fanatical Hitler Youth, and the film also earns points for going beyond the bloodthirsty Nazi stereotype and trying to portray the German Luftwaffe pilots such as Alexander Allerson as 'just a group of regular guys', although this attempt is hindered by the precious little screentime given to each character, particularly the Germans. All in all, worth checking out, but not exceptional except for the excellent air battles. There not much bad that can be said of all technical aspects involved in making such a film. The props ,costumes ,special effects ,The Planes and the combined lot take center stage in this brilliant UK produced spectacle!! The acting was well done there's zero Poorly spoken lines. Personally this movie was viewed by me twice it seems to follow historical correctness on a whole . I don't know how true all the various personal stories that weave there way throughout the entire movie are . However they are done tastefully and in Actual real life they are plausible . At the end of the movie when the credits are shown on screen the producers added statistics .Very Solemn moment. I don't know how your movie viewing goes , Thats in your hands . Personally I most always view credits from beginning to end .My movie experience becomes more fulfilling . The hit United Artists film, Battle of Britain, opened in Chicago in fou rarea theatres on Friday, October 31, 1969. The film was rated "G." The RAF had been resoundingly beaten by the Luftwaffe during the opening battles of World War 2 but by 1940 had learned from their combat experiences and adjusted their tactics. The air battles in France and Norway had largely been fought by the Hurricane which was slightly inferior to its' German equivalent, the ME109. However by the time of the Battle of Britain large numbers of Spitfires were available which were slightly superior (the unofficial tactic was for Spitfires to take on the ME109s whilst the Hurricanes took on the bombers). The German aircraft were operating at the edge of their range giving them limited combat time due to lack of fuel whilst the RAF were on their home territory and had no such restrictions. German fighters were forced to escort their bombers whilst RAF fighters were free to operate independently. The RAF had primitive radar allowing them to know the time and location of German raids whilst any RAF pilots who survived being shot down would return to combat but Luftwaffe pilots would become prisoners of war.